Liquid Democracy Association

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= promoting and creating software tools for deliberative democracy ...


URL = http://liqd.net


Description

"The Liquid Democracy Association is a non-profit and non-partisan organisation that works on innovative ideas and projects for democratic participation. Our goal is to establish a transparent democratic principle in both the political and social domain based on strengthening the citizens’ participation. We are working on ideas and projects that will make our modern democracy more transparent and flexible. The work of the Liquid Democracy Association encompasses both the theoretical conception and the practical implementation of software projects.

Modern media allow new forms of communication and interaction which can be used to strengthen democratic and discourse-oriented participation. Our goal is to develop concepts and tools that allow the influx of deliberative participation opportunities in -ideally- all sectors of society." (http://liqd.net/en/about/)


FAQ

"What does the Liquid Democracy Association stand for?

The Liquid Democracy Association is a non-profit and non-partisan organisation that works on innovative ideas and projects for democratic participation. Our goal is to establish a transparent, democratic principle in both, the political and social domain based on strengthening the citizens’ participation.


What does the term Liquid Democracy mean?

Above all, Liquid Democracy is a theoretical concept of redefining decision-making procedures to enable a broader participation. The idea behind this is a fusion of direct and representative participation opportunities in order to make them accessible to preferably all areas of society. Within the Liquid Democracy Association this concept is being advanced as “Direct Parliamentarism“ and is applied to the participation software Adhocracy.


What exactly is Adhocracy?

Primarily, it is an open source participation software, which can be used by all kinds of groups that want to enable democratic participation. Moreover, it is a tool to extend or even rearrange existing participation structures and decision-making procedures.


„All kinds of groups“ – who do you mean by that? Who can actually use Adhocracy?

To put it in a nutshell: Anyone! Be it citizens’ movements, associations, councils, parties or companies. Anyone is invited to test the participation platform for free on adhocracy.de and use it to collectively develop issues and vote democratically.


I still didn’t get a concrete idea about what this means. What exactly can I do with Adhocracy?

Adhocracy provides an opportunity to establish own “organisations“. There, members can submit motions and proposals that can consequently be discussed and altered. All of this occurs in a direct democratic way. The participants always have the choice to directly take part in a debate or delegate his or her vote to another member. Subsequently, they can vote on motions and proposals.

Adhocracy can be applied at all levels. Be it a community that consults the citizens about a building project, or an association whose members want to work out its statute.

The number of possiblities is very high. Thereby, the direct democratic way is the pivotal element: Anyone, who wants to participate can and should do this.


All right, and how do I benefit from this in comparison to the classic, analogous method of participation?

Well, that is something everyone has to decide by him- or herself. In general, one can say that Adhocracy does not universally replace existing codecision procedures.

We rather perceive Adhocracy as an opportunity to complete existing methods or to eliminate “blind spots“. Due to the opportunity to make individual adjustments according to the usage of the software benefits can be understood in its direct democratic discourse, authentic decisions, increased range and legitimation, or simply a broader acceptance.


Fair enough, but wouldn’t discussions online lead to chaos? Is it even possible to make authentic decisions on Adhocracy?

Discussions have to be structured- this principle applies to analogous as well as digital types of discussions. Adhocracy offers the possibility to structure discussions and proposals in order to enable a constructive debate. Whether decisions on Adhocracy should be authentic has to be determined individually. Based on a high standard of transparency and adjustability Adhocracy enables a safe and efficient ballot according to defined quorums. Mehr


That does sound interesting indeed, but what does all of this cost me?

Nothing! On the association’s instance adhocracy.de everyone can establish an own organisation for free. Costs only incur in case further service or adjustments are required that shall be implemented by us." (http://liqd.net/en/about/einfuehrung/)


More Information

The platform, https://adhocracy.de/